Desecration or Immaturity

The topic of the week seems to be the video that has gone viral of the four US Marines who decided to take a leak on the bodies of some dead Taliban. I admittedly have not seen the video, but it has sparked some debate all the way around on whether or not these Marines have committed a crime or if they are just boys being boys as good old Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry would have you believe. Thank you Rick Perry for your insight into immaturity and the obviously slow development of the mind of an American fighting man, too bad you are wrong, and here is why.

Notice I have not addressed the gang of four as kids, youngsters, or any other word that would allude to their age, I have called them what they are, Marines. If they were in the Army they would be soldiers; Navy, Seaman (insert jokes now); or any of the five services as their appropriate rank. You see when you enlist in the service of you choice in this All Volunteer Service, you may still be young and immature, but you have just signed up for a different set of rules than your mommy and daddy laid down for you. Your actions in this environment have consequences. While there is definitely a need for the invulnerability that comes with adolescent immaturity, it is hoped that as you complete your basic training that you are given a little bit of skills which will help you harness your personal dark-side and allow you to use these powers for good.

Now, I can hear the eyeballs of my fellow soldiers spinning like slot-machine wheels right now. Any one of us who has advanced through the ranks has either been in trouble or assisted in the corrective action of at least one soldier who has decided to act in an irresponsible manner despite all the effort to educate said individual in the consequences of the ill-advised actions of which they are about to commence. Service members, no matter how well trained, are still young, dumb Americans at heart and as such will do the same dumb things as their civilian counterparts. In this regard, Dick Perry is absolutely correct. Where he fails to draw a distinction is the military exists with its own laws and regulations for a reason and seldom does anyone who is not an active member of the military ever truly appreciate or understand that world. Even spouses who serve right alongside their significant other for years and years, cannot always understand what may be considered archaic consequences for actions that may be less severe in the civilian world. That is because you are not supposed to, it is an insular world with sometimes archaic consequences, but it is an evolving world.

Military members, regardless of what our job is, exist in a world most only understand through John Wayne movies and misrepresentations through a weekly drama or media pundit. No offense to all those former Generals out their whoring themselves out as “consultant”, but you are out for a reason, and even if you retired, it was your time, which means you were past your prime. Laugh all the way to the bank, you were probably overpaid when you were on duty, much as you are telling our secrets. Civilians generally only get a peak into our world and those who serve and get out after their contract is up, have only peaked behind the curtain. This life is not for everyone and it takes more than a little look at the magic that happens to understand it, most of the time people do not get it even with a thorough explanation.

The simple fact is, these four dumb asses, committed a crime by military standards. Whether this crime turns out to be a non-judicial punishment like offense or severe enough to be a court martial is up to their chain of command to determine. My hope is that their CoC decides based on the merits of the incident and the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) rather than bowing to pressure in how it is pursued. With all due deference to the sage wisdom of Rick Perry and the rest of his ilk, who would use something like this as a platform for which they really know nothing about, but keep them in the media, you are not yet and with all hope never will be the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces. One thing seems certain to me, old Rick may not be able to remember what agencies he wants to get rid of to help cut our deficit, but he is an expert on immaturity and definitely knows it when he sees it.